My kids love fresh veggies and dip. I usually buy sour cream and mix it with herb pouches, like knorr, club house, etc. We also make our own hummus or buy roasted red pepper spread. Yum! I like to jazz up veggies, too, like roasting them in the oven. Makes everything taste so sweet. We usually do mini potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, red peppers, carrots, etc. Also making mashed potatoes with skim milk and mashed cauliflower. If you can shred some low fat old cheddar to sprinkle on cooked broccoli. How about having him help you prepare supper? You can make a soup together, lots of beans, shredded kale or spinach, chopped tomatoes. Sprinkle the finished product with parmesan and serve crusty bread. Try making chicken taco soup with peppers, Tomatoes and shredded light cheese? So many tasty possibilities. My kids have grown up with veggies and dip or a salad with almost every meal. We also eat a lot of vegetable soup in the winter. Good luck!
AGOZALOP 3/4/08 5:16 P
Yes we can have the veggies hide in some many ways like in the smoothies and blended.
REDFLAME 3/4/08 12:39 A
Fruit smoothies! Kewi, apple and a huge handful of fresh spinach! Dont let him see! for sweeter you can add some canned pineapple too. I dont bother with yogurt or anything, we have simply fruit and a little ice.
You blame the green color on the kewi if he should ask, once he gets hooked on those try some frozen mango, pineapple and cooked carrots.
strawberries, bananas and beets......the list goes on.
PEARLOI 3/3/08 2:06 P
hi , i agree with you wholeheartedly, i was going along the lines that unlike you and i who start them in this pattern from the very begging, some need to start as if learning , as we are not all the same , thats why some have problems ,, no disrespect to you but , we dontknow 2and 2 make 4 until we are taught, and not all of us have the same start , i read a magazine recently that adviocated washng hands before eating and at first i thought DUH who would need that ,, then i thought about the way things are today and were not all privi to having sense or plain good family etiquette, passed on to us ,, not that i thought the person asking for help was any way in these categories, but there are lots more reasons than our social upbringing , as to why people need help, and by the way if i thught you were hard them i must be too as i brought mine to eat that which was good for them , without fuss, all 8 of them but now they have husbands /wives who feel very differant about some of the ways they would go about in bringing up their off spring. I hope this doenst come across as hard as it sounds either, .potsa love Jill
MIMI_SDF 3/3/08 1:15 P
This may sound like a cold approach, but I am not big on coddling, especially at 12. I would just serve his dinner - a protein, a fruit, and a veggie. He eats. Period. No sweets, no seconds of the meat, no juice or extra milk. He eats what he was given. My kids have to eat what is prepared whether they like it or not. After a 20 minute wait to see if their stomach tells their brains they are full, they can have seconds of vegetables. Their lunches are packed and there is no money in their school lunch accounts. Eventually, your grandson will get hungry and he will eat what he is served. Regarding his being overweight, he probably needs some exercise too. My SSs have high cholesterol despite the fact they are rather thin. They chose not to make honest efforts at getting aerobic exercise on a regular basis so now they work with a trainer, 3 days per week. They hate it but my job isn't to be their friend, it is to keep them healthy.
PEARLOI 3/3/08 1:11 P
i find taking , my grandchildren out to pick or buy the vedgies and letting them chose 3-4 differant ones, evenif i only but one of each item and then they help me prepare and cook it, my daughter is always amazed at how they are about eating vedgies here when they stay over,, another way is fo find something they will eat , say like potato, and mash [a tiny amout of something for them tot try in it and i mean a tiny amount as growing childre do need their vedg but not always in the quantities ive seen some parents trying to persuade them to eat.. hope that helps .Jill
Cut up some raw veggies like celery, carrots, green pepper strips, slices of tomato etc and serve it to him on a nice dish with a little bowl of dip ( we use Ranch dressing)
It sometimes help to let them help you cut things up, they feel like a little chef.
PIANO*LADY 3/3/08 9:36 A
Try JoAnna Lund's cookbook called "Cooking Healthy with the kids in Mind." Her easy, down-home recipes are very good.
CANDYALDRIDGE 3/3/08 9:05 A
I find i can sneak Zuchinni into anything. If it's shreded and strained well it is great in meatloaves, or meatballs or hamburgers. You can do the same with most hard veggies like carrots as well. Another thing i do is throw some veggies in a food processor and use it to make the base of spaghetti sauces or other similar things. Like sometimes we have mashed carrots instead of potatoes and as along as they are called "orange mashed potatoes" the kids will eat it!
HALLUCINATING 3/2/08 6:55 P
I have fed picky kids mashed cauliflower in place of mashed potatoes and they have liked it. Of course, I add some cheddar cheese. Steam it until its very soft first and mash it until its very creamy. Also, have you tried baked sweet potatoes? I fix them like a regular baked potato.
DENISE_SP 3/1/08 11:01 P
You may want to take a look at this page: http://sparkpeople.com/myspark/family_adventure_home.asp - it has some articles for helping families and kids become healthy. I think you will find some good info there and on www.kidshealth.org.
You may want to try giving him V8 Fusion. An 8 oz glass provides a full serving of both veggies and fruit.
You can include pureed veggies in prepared foods. Pureed cauliflower in mac and cheese or pureed green beans in ground meat etc.
Another options is to select fresh veggies like carrots or pea pods and dip them in ranch dressing.
When he turns 13, he is able to sign up for our sister site sparkteens.com - but he has to be 13 before he can sign up.
Hope this helps!
Denise
DEDEE44 3/1/08 10:41 P
I am in desperate need of some things to get my grandson (12 yrs) to eat veggies. He will eat most any kind of meat but when it comes to veggies he is very picky. He will eat green beans and sometimes salad. He likes corn and sweet peas and about any way you want to fix potatoes and that is about it. I get so frustrated trying to make a balanced meal for him because of this. Oh and he is overweight also, so I have been trying to watch what he is eating. He loves anything sweet, but I am trying to wean him off that, slowly. Thanks for any help. Dedee
